Backyarding : Theory and Evidence for South Africa
This paper explores the incentives for backyarding, an expanding category of urban land-use in developing countries that has proliferated South Africa. The theoretical model exposes the trade-off faced by the homeowner in deciding how much backyard...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/491081541096912553/Backyarding-Theory-and-Evidence-for-South-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30842 |
| Summary: | This paper explores the incentives for
backyarding, an expanding category of urban land-use in
developing countries that has proliferated South Africa. The
theoretical model exposes the trade-off faced by the
homeowner in deciding how much backyard land to rent out:
loss of yard space consumption in return for a gain in
rental income. Under common forms for preferences, the
homeowner's own-consumption of yard space falls as land
rent increases, causing more land to be rented to
backyarders. With better job access for backyarders raising
land rent by increasing their willingness-to-pay, the
analysis then predicts that the extent of backyarding will
be higher for parcels with good job access. This hypothesis
is tested by combining a satellite- based count of backyard
dwellings per parcel with job-access data. The empirical
results strongly confirm the prediction that better job
access increases the extent of backyarding. |
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